The mom of 3-year-old California girl who died after being locked in a hot car in California last week has been arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter and neglect.
The mother and child were found in the locked car in Anaheim on Friday, as CrimeOnline reported.
Police received a call about a medical emergency in Anaheim just before 4:30 p.m. on Friday, KTTV reported. The toddler, identified as Ily Ruiz, was rushed to a hospital, where she died.
The girl’s mother, 41-year-old Sandra Hernandez, was taken to a hospital before she was arrested, police announced Monday.
A woman who said she was Hernandez’s great aunt told KNBC that the mother locked the pair in the car. She said that Hernandez was supposed to be going to pick up her other child, a 5-year-old, from school, and that relatives did not realize she never left.
Police said a family member smashed a window to get them out, KTTV said.
Anaheim Police Sgt. Matt Sutter said investigators found several empty alcohol bottles in the car.
It’s not clear how long the pair were inside the car. Southern California has been under a brutal heat wave, and temperatures Friday afternoon reach 104 degrees.
According to No Heat Stroke, 32 children have died in hot cars so far this year. Twenty-nine children died in hot cars in all of last year.
